Dark Times Must End
by wisegirlgeek
Summary: A MESSAGE TO ALL PERCY JACKSON FANS! This is a serious issue we need to address as a fandom. Please hear me out. Let's bring our favorite series back to life!
1. The First Part

_Note—if you don't want to read this whole thing, skip to the end. The part saying 'EVERYBODY PLEASE READ' :)_

* * *

 **Dear fans of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the Heroes of Olympus, and the Trials of Apollo,**

 **Hello. I wrote this to try to communicate something with all of you. There is a problem I've seen slowly evolve ever since I joined this website and started writing in the Percy Jackson archives. I am here to address it.**

 **The problem, you see, is that the fandom is dying. New authors who are joining fanfiction are writing and not getting any reviews, something which doesn't motivate them to write anymore. They don't review. And since many of the original Percy Jackson fans have grown up and out of the fanfiction community, it is the job of us who remain here to nurture an environment so that our favorite characters don't go extinct.**

 **The first ever fanfiction story ever written for Percy Jackson was one by bloomingauthor7. It is an amazing story. I recommend you read it. It was written a decade ago and has 370 reviews. Of course, time accumulates reviews.**

 **But currently, the review counts are just sad. As are the story counts. If we, as a fandom, want to make sure our favorite series doesn't die, we need to be dedicated to reviewing. One review. All you need to write is 'Good', or 'Love it!', or 'A couple of mistakes but overall I'd like to read more'. We need to encourage this new generation of readers (I'm one of them if the haters want to know) to keep writing and reviewing.**

 **I feel so sad when I see stories 1000, 2000, 3000, or even 10000 and 15000 words long which have maybe one or two reviews. We need to be encouraging, people! If you have time to read a story, you have time to review it. One review could brighten somebody's day.**

 **To write a good story about 1500 words long I know from personal experience it takes around an hour. Including editing. Do you realize how many of us post stories on here to be heard? To be recognized? To improve? We all bite our nails after we publish that one story and hope for reviews.**

 **These days, there aren't many. Even last December, when I joined this website, reviews were quicker. Do you remember those old stories where you read the first chapter and flipped to the second and read how the author was so happy that she had gotten fifteen reviews on the first chapter? We need to go back to those times.**

 **Fanfiction is a giant community where all of us can go away to escape ordinary life and make friends and share our love of stories. We're all a family on here. We need to support one another. No matter what your age, country, ethnicity or gender is we need to help one another and make peace in our own United Nations.**

 **I would also like to make another short note—you should click on stories with maybe 300, 400, or 500 words. Just because a story is short doesn't change the quality of it. You might be surprised.**

 **To the haters—if you don't want to review, don't. But the truth is that if you don't want to review, you're not a true part of Fanfiction. We help each other. And if any of you are going to state something about me being selfish for reviews and plan on calling me a b**** or something, frick off. I don't care about your stupid hater attitudes. I'm trying to help fanfiction. You're not.**

 **EVERYBODY, PLEASE READ! If you're with me and want to keep Percy, Annabeth and the rest of the series alive, please review everything you read. And if you truly are with me, please review this story really quickly with a 'Yes' or a 'No'. A 'Y' or 'N' if you're lazy. I don't know if this message will really make a difference, but I hope you all will. Please keep reviewing. Spread this message if you can.**

 **Sincerely,**

 **WiseGirlGeek. Let's change the fandom, friends. Remember to review 'Yes' or 'No'!**

Now, because I have to include story content, a thingie for all of you—

Let's keep the fandom alive

Review and Review

Leo would love you if you did!


	2. AMAZHANG Reviews!

Hey guys,

So I just want to say THANK YOU so much to the people on here who listened to me and are slowly but surely starting to make a difference. I'm so glad over sixty people recognized this problem and are working to fix it.

And, as I'm sure you're all wondering, what is this chapter about?

I've gotten so many wonderful reviews with wonderful advice to the PJO community, and I thought it was a bit sad that not many people were reading what they had to say. So, I've decided to post it in the story!

(note ::: if you want me to take yours down, just PM me or review. I'm sorry I didn't ask for everybody's consent, but that would have taken forever. Oh, and check all these awesome authors out!)

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This is the real deal

 **.**

 **TLDR? Skip to the last line.**

 **Your feelings have reached me. Obviously there'll be some things I think about differently, but your feelings have reached me nonetheless.**

 **The drought of reviews is pretty bad on this fandom nowadays. I didn't start off writing Percy Jackson stuff. I started with Medabots and the Inheritance Cycle, but I've been here a while, but for such a big archive, it seems to kind of be dying out lately, even from the time when I first started writing Uncle Rick stuff, and I think it's important that we can share our thoughts and comments and ideas and stuff and try to grow better from it. Even without looking, I can still, albeit vaguely, remember my first review and the happiness I got just knowing that there was somebody out there who was enjoying my horrendously written, poorly edited work. A review can make a big difference. That said, the problem isn't that simple.**

 **Cause I've been here a while, I kinda agree with King of France, or maybe Percyjacksonfan16. There's a lot of really cliche stuff in this fandom, and lots of just... really low quality work. Now, I'm reading fanfiction here. I doubt many of us are authors. I know I'm not. Yet. So I'm not expecting the next great 21st Century work. But we also need to be able to work together to try and get better instead of staying in a cesspool of suck. We need to be able to encourage each other and grow and develop as writers. The biggest improvements I ever made as a writer was from my time spent on some of the old Digimon forums I used to hang out on because everybody was constantly giving and sharing advice and it was marvellous. We need to be able to do stuff like that. It's not even quality that needs to go up, we're just having fun here. But it's the EFFORT that we need. The drive and creativity. That alone won't just boost reviews on your stories... on OUR stories, but they make EVERYBODY more willing to review and talk about their work!**

 **It looks like a few people are getting the idea. We need to be able to really push and try for this stuff now. We need to be able to all work together and improve ourselves, but without looking down at and spitting at everything else that comes along. Anybody still around from the Ghostwriters? I'm still a little sad that I missed them completely, but if we can something like that... not even with a big goal of improving fanfiction in general (I mean come on, there's only so much we can do!) and not to go with the idea that "we are better than everybody", but to just come with the true spirit of fanfiction, to help each other grow and develop, give tips and tricks, promote each other's stories, link worlds... things like that! I think it would be really cool! 'Silver Ocean Jackson' mentioned it, I feel like 'Percyjacksonfan16' might also think it's kinda cool too. Who knows, this might be the solution that King of France was talking about too! I dunno. Anyway, if anybody is really interested in this kind of thing, just give me a holler. I'd love to talk about it with people. Actually, you should probably talk to Silver first since she is the one who suggested it here first anyway.**

 **So if that was too much to read, the short version: why not start a small crew dedicated to this kinda stuff? Reviews and improvements, the spirit of FF? Send a message to Silver Ocean Jackson or myself for more info!**

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Silver Ocean Jackson

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 **I'm so happy that someone posted this. When I was starting out writing, lack of reviews didn't help one bit. I used to frantically change and revise until it made no sense. I was younger so my writing wasn't superb to begin with, but my busy schedule and lack of motivation really hurt it. All the schist I have on my account now is stuff I wrote a long time ago, with no pride, and am too sentimental to delete. I'll try to reboot my writing and actually create for the fandom, but beyond that I'm prepared to put in the effort to review. (Also I know this is comment over dramatic but I'm a stressed teen writing this early morning.) I have a few ideas to try and start a small community of writers that'll constantly produce more content. If anyone wants to help me with that let me know. Sincerely, me. :P XD :)**

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animaljam

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 **yes! The first story I ever wrote was bad. It was short un detailed and had a Mary Sue. A cupola months later I wrote my third or fourth story that I worked hard on and tried to make the characters realistic and the story detailed. The only reviews I got were from my real life friends. As much as I love them for doing it (Thanks guys!) I wanted some other people to review as well. No one ever I say yes! I'm definitely going to review on all the stories I read now that you've brought this issue up and I realize how true it is.**

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46and78

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 **I can see what you're going for here and I agree 110%.I see how so few people review these amazing stories. And as I quote HSM, "We're all in this together", I am thinking 'what happened to the fandom we once knew so well? What happened to the amazing comments that bring us happiness just knowing that someone appreciates your work? Because for some, writing is all they have to escape the pain and tribulation of what is known as life. This has deeply inspired me and I know it will affect so many people in this fandom so we can bring it back to what it once was when we actually took the time to appreciate the amazing work on this site and any other fanfic site.**

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Guest

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 **It's not only this fandom. This happens in every single fanfiction book because readers become lazy. I, for one, confess :/ so... I agree. If you have ever written something and hoped for reviews, then you should ser the example/return the favor and review whatever you read. That's what this community is for, isn't it? We all love reading or writing, usually both. Let's be helpful to each other! Well, there's another matter I would like to address: incomplete stories. Apply the filter and the 70k PJ/HOO archive will drop to about 30k. If you are a writer, try to complete your stories for your readers' sake!**

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Bakatana

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 **Yes! I created an account very recently but I've been reading since... I don't know actually I couldn't create an account before. So all the stories I read or I'm reading will be reviewed because all those authors make a great great job and it's normal to show them your feelings about their story (even if it's only a "good story"). So I wish a huge good luck to all the authors who have the will to write despite this lack of recognition!**

 **(sorry if there are mistakes, English isn't my mother language)**

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DarkMando

.

 **I agree, this fandom is dying, i have read every story here worth reading, (i think, i searched everything relentlessly)**

 **I have found a few things that would help as well,**

 **We need originality, or at least a new take on the old things, i urge all authors to go forth and explore, read crossovers, research other fandoms that you may be familiar with. Get some more ideas, spread them around, use your imagination,**

 **And review everything.**

 **I freely offer my fav list for references to decent stories.**

 **As far as thing with few words, the best stories i have read have been one shots, mostly narnia one shots.**

 **Darkmando, a.k.a. He-who-has-no-writing-ability-and-so-is-resigned-to-reading-them**

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Percyjacksonfan16

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 **Yes, I wholeheartedly agree with you! I've been in the PJO fandom since 2011 which isn't that long ago and I started writing in 2012-ish and I got so many reviews on fics that weren't (grammatically) that good. I stopped writing for three years and when I came back-not that I was expecting even half of my original audience-I typically get around 3 reviews per chapter on a good day. And those 3 reviews are mostly from the same people so they've kind of followed the story and all.**

 **How to fix this problem:**

 **-If people aren't reviewing because there's not original fics or fics that they would like to read, they need to: a) Leave a review and tell the author how they can add originality to them. Not tell them to scrap the story completely. b)Write their own fic**

 **-People who favorite and follow a story, read most of the chapters but never review: I don't know if they think they are being helpful by at least favoriting but 9 times out of 10 when I click on their profiles, they have like 500 stories favorited. That doesn't make an author feel original at all. Reviews are more personal and because of the nature of the internet, authors can't see their audience. We're not published authors who have fans tweet at them or go to their book signings so we don't see our audience. Reviews are the only personal connection we have-I can guarantee you every fanfic writer will remember a kind (maybe even their first review) review over someone who just favorited/follows**

 **-If you have time to read a story, you have time to leave a review. Trust me, it takes 5 seconds.**

 **-Fanfic authors don't get paid for this and we spend a good chunk of our free time on this, the least you could do is leave is a review.**

 **Some other things I've been noticing:**

 **-Authors who don't listen to reviews. I write more than I read fanfic. Once a week, I go through and try to read at least five stories and no matter if I liked them or not, I leave a review. Most of the time it's CC but sometimes its praise. I've encountered way too many authors who immediately call me out in the A/N for their next chapter like oh she's mean and I'm like yo, I'm just trying to make your story readable.**

 **-Too many cliches. I'm picky when choosing fanfic to read but you have to admit there's too many OC fics (which can be good but most of time they're self inserts and/or undeveloped) demigods go to highschool fics, the demigods read the PJO/HoO books, etc. I don't mind a lot of fics of the same pairing because ya, there's a crap ton of Percabeth fics but all of them are different so that doesn't bother me.**

 **I think I'm going to mention this fic/call to action in my next chapter (I'll credit you, if you don't mind) because I don't talk about reviews or anything because I don't want to repel the small audience I have but ya, things need to change around here.**

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Killermemester

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 **I'll start reviewing when the cliches stop being recycled over and over again in every pertemis FanFiction.(also we need to add some variety like Percy x Athena or hesitant hell even zoe anything but percabeth or Percy x nico and things of that sort.**

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King of France (Guest)

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 **I am one of the original fans of this series, and I do still occasionally check this site. (I'm just a reader, not an author). One reason for a lack of reviews is a simple lack of originality and talent. People don't review stories of they've read one just like it before, or if the author seems to not even understand how to form a sentence. If you can find a way to fix those problems, the review issue will fix itself.**

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 **AND IT ALL ENDS HERE (I once again thank all of you for making a difference)**

 **And now, my story content :::::: a poem, cuz . . . yeah.**

 **.**

We're heroes, the heroes, and darling, we'll fly

Either in our heads or with that blond superman guy

We're monsters, we're monsters, and honey, we'll try

But you can only fight for so long before the blood falls off dry.

 _ **.**_

 _ **Bye, reviewing 'yes' or 'no' is still an option, and if you have any more advice don't hesitate to review it. I can still add it in.**_

 _ **-WGG**_


	3. Another Statement

**Hi guys,**

 **I just want to bring up another issue—something called punctuation. A lot of people are messing it up these days.**

 **Oh, screw it. Three main reasons that the fandom is dying:**

 **First of all—utter, complete unoriginality. Go to Goode cliches? Well, okay. Sometimes a cliche can be good. However, many on here aren't very well-written. Chaos cliches . . . well, I have no opinion so far. I don't mind the concept but they're over-written and not done very well.**

 **Second of all—bad punctuation. Bad grammar. I do try to support all authors—, however, if you're getting reviews on your stories asking you to improve your grammar please listen. Things like that are constructive criticism, not flames. Be glad somebody is taking the time to make you a better writer.**

 **Lastly, as I've said before, a LACK OF REVIEWS. Please, please review. I've been doing it a lot more recently, reviewing more than I write fanfic, and it . . . it helps others and lets you feel good as a person. Plenty of people say that they review, but only a few live up to that promise. It makes me honestly feel horrible when I see well written, long fics with no reviews.**

 **Ugh . . . honestly, it's depressing to see the fandom die. But I don't want to be depressing . . . so instead let's see some more reviews, why don't we? These people all have wonderful advice for you.**

 **Save PJO guys,**

 **WiseGirlGeek**

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rosesnlilies

.

 **I agree. I try to review stories as much as possible for this fandom, but I don't get much time to read these days. I've started to get discouraged, because since writers don't get as many reviews, they don't feel obligated to make the next chapters good and just get lazy and do some quick "I'm done with this" ending. This needs to stop. There are so many people with SO MUCH POTENTIAL, and it's all going to waste because people just want to browse through a story and then just "eh whatever" and move on, instead of taking two sentences to thank someone for sharing something so precious with them. WORDS.**

 **Also, I feel like social media plays a part in it. More and more people are getting "2 lazy 2 rite comp. sentences". They'd rather watch a show, or read/write a meme. Less people are understanding how a STORY is so magical- even those not written by published authors and in hard copies. Everyone is rushing to tweet "just finished! AH-MAZING! Luved #HOT". Or maybe writing a short Instagram post on it and then move on to the next book.**

 **We need to learn how to be more patient and persistent again. As readers AND writers. We all have so many ideas that deserve to be spread throughout the world. Ideas that are begging to leave our minds and show themselves off.**

 **It is up to you and me and all of us to bring Percy Jackson back to its golden age.**

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ResidentOfCabin6

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 **My advice:. Don't write if you're not passionate about the topic. Readers can tell. Write what you love, not what the masses seem to enjoy. You're writing will be better, and the community will be better.**

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Meister Fallon

.

 **Simply telling every story you come across "Good job!" isn't exactly helpful. I don't review a lot of stories because a good portion of them are all the same: Percy being cheated, Percy being betrayed, Percy being imprisoned in Tartarus, Percy joining Chaos, Percy breaking up with Annabeth and hitching with someone else, PunkPercy and GirlyGoodyTwoShoesAnnabeth (that's SO not her character at all), and several other things I'm sure I'm missing.**

 **I've lost interest doing real reading in this section of FF just because of that. It's pretty easy to tell when all the summaries are the same too :/**

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Jessica'BlueBell'Potter-JPBBX

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 **THANK YOU! I really, really agree with you big time on this one. And all though there are many cliché, grammatically bad, and boring first by those who just don't care, there are even more that are beautiful, original, talented, and people that could actually become really authors. They'd be freaking bestsellers! I started here about five months ago, so I'm a pretty young newbie. I got into PJO last year, and then I wanted to write all these stories and see what people thought. The problem was, I have this anxiety problem with giving my own personal work to people who knew me. It was just too personal and stressful. This place, fanfiction, was my haven and solution. I could get reviews and comments and favourites and no one needed to know me! I was at heaven, especially because everyone was so nice and encouraging and trying to help. Some were mean, nasty, haters, but overall, this world and this website in particular is full of talented, amazing, people. Your vision could transform this entire community, possibly even the website. I think that we should review everything we read, and try to help the author in the nicest way possible. And, we should also add your message, get through to others, make the whole thing spread. Maybe even a hash tag, because even though I've never seen the times you've talked about, I'd certainly love to witness them in the future-**

 **#BringTheAuthorsBack #SaveTheFandoms #PJOFanficsMustReturn , it's your pick and your idea! This doesn't just apply to this fandom, it goes for everything!**

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crazyreader12

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 **yes, I totally agree. I've got a pjo fic, Lost, and I've got three chapters so far, and four reviews, one of which was for the author's note I'd posted. Just for a comparison on the fandoms, I've got a Star Trek: 2009 fic that I'm in the process of writing that I got two reviews on the first chapter, and five after I posted the second chapter, before I posted the third. C'mon guys. This is the third largest book fandom on this website. We can do better than that.**

 **I'll be the first to admit that I don't always review, but since I've started writing and realized how much they can mean, I've tried to get better about it. Even just a 'this is great, keep going', can be a huge motivator to keep moving with a story, and suggestions, questions, and constructive criticism are even more so.**

 **Yes, there are cliches in this fandom. I've read quite a few of them myself, and to be perfectly honest, I've liked some of them a lot. Just because something has been done before, doesn't mean that your version of it isn't worth reading.**

 **If you don't feel like reviewing every single story that you read, look for the ones that are short in reviews, and review them. Those are the ones whose authors need the feedback most, so help them out.**

 **If it's a lack of talent you have a problem with? Those people need reviews even more! Also: I read the entire Percy Jackson series in third grade. I'm not saying that there are a ton of third graders on here writing, but some of these authors are pretty young, I'd bet. Be gentle, and be helpful, don't just tell them that their story sucks, tell them, nicely, what they might be able to improve on.**

 **So even if it's just a simple 'good job', or a 'maybe check some spelling', if you're able (which really, who isn't) just send a little review. It will be appreciated.**

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RoyLuffy (guest)

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 **Hum there is another reason why people don't review.**

 **There is many s**t fics with dumb summaries and you don't want to read that s**t. The one's who don't review are not haters, they're too lazy or just don't have an account and don't want to bother with writing a review.**

 **The haters like you said, aren't many on this website the only thing they can do is comment s**t.**

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PercyandAnnabeth (guest)

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 **There is a lot of stories on this website. But many of them, as you said, are repeated again and again. Many of them don't have great grammar either. Now, I'm not looking for published- book type or something, but at least make your story READABLE (meant to be italicized). It's not that hard. Just look over your story and if you can't tell what's going on and you WROTE the story, you need to fix it. (This part is a personal feeling) the ships! What gives you the idea to pair Percy with just about anyone and everyone in the story? Just, like really? Maybe some of the ships that are even given a hint to be somewhat reasonable. Like, Percy and Artemis. Artemis is a maiden guys! Sorry, if you get me started on non-canon ships, you can get me going for hours so I'll stop now before my review takes up an entire page. But I do agree that people could review more. I will admit I was one to not really review, but since I've read this, I will try more, even if (currently) it is just to say "happy holidays"**

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DrakonOwl21195

.

 **As of now, I am going to talk a little bit about flaming.**

 **Flaming, to me is just someone jealous of you. Most people who flame are honestly cowards, because most of the flamers that you see are guest. I think that mean words need to stop, and we have to take action against 'flamers' starting now. It's just sad how they have nothing better to do in their life than pick on people. So don't let them flamers get to you. We are a fandom. And we are strong.**

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The new age (guest)

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 **Agreed. I dislike having a bunch of likes, but no reviews. Reviews and advice help us aspiring writers, and encourage us to go on.**

 **I have a friend who writes on a fandom different from ours. It took a month for get to get her first review. I hope our dear Percy Jackson fandom writers won't experience the same thing-and there's still time to turn the tables and make a difference. I am impressed that you have speaker out today, and I hope that we can pave a golden path to the New Writer's New Age! My new year resolution will be to review many fanfictions, encourage them, and give them advice. I have neglected my job to review these wonderful, creative stories. We all need to work together to make this fandom great again- guests and writers alike!**

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PertemisIsLife

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 **I'm all for this. I miss the old FF days when there was 100-200 New stories a day! When the stories were big! Back when TheseusLives and Anaklusmos14 were the big dogs of PJO FF. I was here when it was titans curse those were the days when everyone was active and reviewed. I'm all for this movement!**

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eirayne

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 **yes! definitely with you! this really hit me b/c of how true it is. now that the actual series ended and everyone's growing up less people are writing and reviewing. i hate that b/c my writing finally matured to a point where i'm kinda proud of it but now the series ended so anything i post i feel is hardly seen. after reading this i'm gonna make it my goal to review on every fanfic i read b/c i refuse to let my favorite fandom die! thanks for posting this message :)**

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A Girl's Imagination

.

 **I 100% agree with you. I always check my email to see if there are any reviews on my story, and though I appreciate the follows and favorites, it doesn't really push me enough to write more. I think it really motivates the writer when you have ACTUAL reviews to your story because you're getting direct responses, whether it is criticism or wanting to praise the story and such. I hope that this message of yours can spread to the others on FF.**

 **\- A.G.I.**

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Margo McKnew

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 **Heh, I got here by clicking on the profile of someone who'd followed my story when I posted the newest chapter. They did not review. The chapter has no reviews.**

 **In other - completely unrelated! - news, Irony is on sale at 75% off due to an unexpected surplus.**

 **...I'm not sad about the following and I don't mean to complain about it, but I kind of hoped that the penultimate chapter that I squeezed a good half of my heart into would at least warrant a reaction.**

 **This message is good, though. I usually write a handful of long reviews for a few select stories, but - with this in mind - I think I'll start making an effort to leave short, encouraging missives, too.**

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SoulHorse

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 **I haven't on this fandom for a while because despite the fact I love this series, all the stories...they're all the same. The plot of the fanfics...most of them are high school AUs or demigods go to high school or some plot that's been used over and over and over. This review probably won't make a difference, but I believe that not only we should review, favorite, and follow to keep the writers going, but perhaps add real twists to the stories we write and not do some overused plot. Something original.**

 **This is coming from me, a huge cliche writer and shit, but I'm trying my best to keep every story original.**

 **. . .**

 **Gods yes. I agree wholeheartedly. Overused plots, and stuff need to STOP. Unless you plan on making something spectacular, then please, DON'T DO IT. I don't mean to sound harsh, but it's the truth. It's why everyone is leaving the fandom. The cliche plots, the cliche stories, we need to limit them.**

 **As for reader's laziness, I have to admit...I was one of those people. But I'm gonna start reviewing every chapter, just to motivate the writer. I love it when people read my work, but then no reviews. I love those favorites and follows but reviews make my day :) I know other writers feel the same.**

 **Together as a fandom, we need to work to save PJO or it'll all disappear.**

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Story content, some free-verse that I wrote a little while ago. Titled 'murder ears with pillow lace'.

.

the nightmares are the villains in your head

so rather, the nightmares are you

because you _you_ you are the villain

you are the

 **GHOST KING**

the word itself, you know, _ghost_

it divulges so many secrets

there are **skeletons** that abide to your will

creatures of the dead

((they remind you of you, really

deathly pale

emitting evil

and they _look_ like death

you do too

have you seen your face?))

so hold close to the reality of the ground

do you hear me?

murder ears with pillow lace

.

* * *

 **Please guys, keep the movement going. Save the fandom. #DarkTimesMustEnd. (sorry, I saw that in a review and just had to include it :))**

 **-WiseGirlGeek**


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